Arias Pistons 12.5:1 Compression 82mm Bore Honda B-series on 2040-parts.com

Crunch watch Dec 09: the auto industry in crisis

Welcome to CAR's news aggregator as we round up the seismic change in the auto industry. Top tip: news summaries are added from the top hour-by-hour Wednesday 30 December 2009• Saab's PR chief told AN that GM is extending the deadline for a sale to 7 January – and the Trollhattan factory will resume limited manufacturing in early January to build the new 9-5 and some 9-3 cabrios (Automotive News, subscription required)• Last night Bloomberg reported a Saab board member claiming that the 31 December deadline for a Saab sale or closure 'is not holy'. If GM receives a bid that is 'sufficiently interesting', it'll extend the deadline, said the Saab suit (Automotive News, subscription required)• GM is offering massive discounts on Pontiac and Saturn cars, as it seeks to get rid of the remaining stock from these terminated brands.

KTM X-Bow – want a drive?

KTM X-Bow 'Drive Orange' track days at Brands Hatch and Silverstone KTM is an Austrian Motor Cycle manufacturer which has woken up to the possibilities of making a four-wheeled creation, and has been busy building and refining the X-Bow in collaboration with Dallara and Audi. Featuring a 237bhp, 2.0 litre Audi  TFSi unit – and coming in at a bit under £50,000 for the street version – its low weight (790kg) gives it supercar acceleration of around 3.7 second 0-60mph. There is even talk of a 380bhp version, which will put it up there with the Ariel Atom V8 we reported on recently.

The Extreme Mini Adventure Money Can’t Buy

IT’S NOT every day as an apprentice you get to build a new concept car for your employer. However that’s exactly what a lucky few trainees did when BMW tasked them to make their design study a reality. Choosing the firm’s Mini Paceman as the donor car, the talented apprentices transformed the vehicle into a rugged two-door pick-up – a long way from the original motor’s sleek coupe origins.